Subtext
by wordlings
Summary: "It took some time, but Wash is content, for the most part, to sit behind his screen and talk in their ears and worry that his wife will come back in one piece, not that she'll run off with her dashing co-pilot." One-shot.


Thank you in advance for reading!

I do not own Firefly/Serenity OR Pacific Rim. All characters belong to their respective creators.

914 words.

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When the Kaiju hit, and everything went to _diyu de tilan_ , Wash found himself in the strange predicament of falling in love.

Okay, yeah, he also found himself part of the military, helping put together and ship out giant fighting robots that melded people's minds together. But love wasn't exactly what one tended to find in circumstances like his, and certainly not with a woman like Zoe Alleyne.

Ah, Zoe. His Lambie Toes, his Warrior Woman, his Wife. Once they managed to blessedly get past all the glaring (so much glaring), and the mistrust, and the plastic dinosaurs sat around the LOCCENT computer, a beautiful and fulfilling relationship was born. The light of his life, she is.

Which is what made it so hard, at first, to watch her frolic off with another man. Not that Zoe would ever frolic under any circumstance, let alone to fight a Kaiju, because no one in their right mind would be excited to come up close to a Kaiju, except maybe River, which doesn't count because she's crazy, and Zoe is most definitely _not_ crazy, maybe a little headstrong and suicidal sometimes, but the point is, _the point is_ …

The point is Malcolm Reynolds. Malcolm, tall, dark and handsome _gorram_ Reynolds.

Now don't get the wrong idea. Malcolm Reynolds is a hero if ever anyone saw one. The guy is brave and selfless and doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. He's a bit disconcerting, when you first meet him, but that eases once he finds a reason to trust you, like say, guiding him through dozens of fights with giant fish aliens. And he's got an easy-going manner, when he isn't trying to save the world, that Wash can appreciate. Wash likes Mal, has always liked Mal, except when it came to Zoe.

Wash is a silly man, but he's not stupid. He understands how easy it would have been for them to wind up together. Mal is the one she's known for years, the one she trained with and went to ranger school with, the one she's Drift compatible with, the one who shares her brain space and fights alongside her in grueling death matches with the Kaiju. They pilot Serenity like it's an extension of themselves, which of course it is, but he means on more of a spiritual level than the literal neurological level. They _literally_ become one in that thing, and no not in the traditional _christian_ sense, but the implications are still disconcerting for a husband.

Even he has to admit, after years of linking their brains and watching their handshake hold firm under stress, that their bond is one stronger than most. He's an over-active participant in their fights, shouting out warnings and the occasional expletive when they don't listen. And he wishes he could just blame every reckless decision on Mal, but they're the same in there, remember Wash? They make those decisions together. She and Mal have an understanding you can't even comprehend. They don't even have to _speak_.

In the early days, it was enough to make him question why she married him instead of Mal in the first place. Wash cringes when he thinks of the things he said and did to express his discontent. He'd had no idea he was capable of that much passive aggression.

But Zoe...loving, patient, understanding Zoe, never really left room for him to stay insecure. When those awful, self-pitying, _idiotic_ thoughts came pouring out of his mouth, she'd just sit there and take it. Then she'd put her hand in his and say the same thing:

'I love you, and you marry the man you love. It's as simple as that.'

It never failed. All his well thought-out negativity and planned petulance, blown to bits by two toe-curling sentences.

Mal? What about Mal? Why would she need to spend time with Mal? She knows what is in his head anyway, knows where he is and what he's doing. She knows the ins and outs of his mind like she knows her own. So why should she spend extra time with him? Why should they even talk? It'd be like talking to herself! No, she doesn't need that. She doesn't need to hear his voice, or touch his hand to make sure he's there, or curl up around him at night to fight off the Shatterdome cold. She married Wash, not Mal, so never mind the how's and the why's!

She didn't say any of _that_ , of course. But it was all there...in subtext.

Wash can admit that a small part of him still feels hurt that they don't have that no-need-to-speak intimacy, but he's come to accept and appreciate that he doesn't need a neuro-link to connect with his wife. She can pick his brain and let him pick hers and they can nurture their bond the organic way, not in the Drift where things are melded and forged in the desperation to survive.

It took some time, but Wash is content, for the most part, to sit behind his screen and talk in their ears and worry that his wife will come back in one piece, not that she'll run off with her dashing co-pilot.

The imminent danger and apocalyptic monsters seeking to exterminate their race notwithstanding, Wash would say he's rather lucky. Zoe didn't really have a choice in co-pilot, but she got to choose who to spend the rest of her life with. And she chose him.


End file.
